Michael Oliver will referee a West Ham United fixture for the 46th time in his illustrious career on Friday evening.
It will also be a landmark match for Oliver, as it will be the 400th time he takes charge of a Premier League game.
Born in Ashington, Northumberland, 40-year-old Oliver was introduced to refereeing by his father, Clive, at the age of 14 and became the youngest referee to officiate at Wembley Stadium when he took charge of the 2007 Conference National play-off final, aged just 22.
He had already become the youngest Football League assistant referee and referee when he became the youngest Premier League referee when he took charge of Birmingham City’s 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers on 21 August 2010, aged 25.
Since that historic day, Oliver has refereed two FA Cup finals, in 2018 and 2021, the EFL Cup final in 2016, UEFA Super Cup final in 2022 and EFL Championship Play-Off final in 2023.
As mentioned, he is one short of 400 Premier League appointments and has passed 750 matches at all levels, including 39 in the UEFA Champions League.
Included in those 765 games were three at UEFA Euro 2020, three at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2024 and the 2025 UEFA Nations League final.
Oliver will be assisted by Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, as he was for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to London Stadium in May.
Burt, like Oliver, got into refereeing through his father and also worked at Euro 2024 alongside Friday’s referee. Burt has officiated matches in the National League and run the line for 39 West Ham games previously.
Mainwaring will be running the line for a Hammers fixture for the 23rd time, and the second assisting Oliver.
The fourth official is Simon Hooper. He was promoted to the Select Group of Referees in 2018 and was the man in the middle for Manchester United versus Arsenal last Sunday afternoon.
VAR duties will be overseen by Jarred Gillett (pictured, above), who moved to England from Australia and was added to Select Group 2 in 2019, then promoted to Select Group 1 in 2021.
The first person born outside of the British Isles to referee a Premier League fixture, 38-year-old Gillett took charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Manchester City on this season’s opening weekend. Friday’s game will be his eighth VAR appointment for a West Ham fixture.
He will be assisted by Tim Robinson, who refereed West Ham’s final-day win at Ipswich Town in May. Robinson was promoted to Select Group 1 in 2023.
